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Summary List of stories Phase II Night: Ashes, Metal, And Corruption << chapter 58 Chapter 59 of 75 Vinyl, Scratched chapter 60 >> << previous scene Scene 2 of 3 next scene >> Location Participants Time Summary Prologue | Phase I | Phase II | Epilogue 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 Text A minotaur was calmly smoking a cigarette, grumbling under his breath: he was enormous, statuesque, and wearing tight, itchy clothes that made him feel uncomfortable. They made him feel... naked, ironically. More naked than the simple kilts and loincloths of his homeland, which he knew probably wouldn't make sense to any of these ponies. He sighed tiredly, looking up at the stars and the moon above and judging the time by them even as clouds rolled slowly past: he thought it was probably just before eleven at night. Behind him, the doors were wide open, and bright lights kept shining in jagged rhythms out of the archway as inside, music blared and ponies danced and threw themselves against each other, a lot of them young and rich and who thought there was nothing more hip than coming to this little village from Canterlot and Manehattan and all the other big cities to party together in this out-of-the-way nightclub run by one of Equestria's rising sensations. That's why the nightclub was called 'Enigma.' Because it was a 'secret' that all the cool people knew, and only the coolest attended. Nevermind the enormous lineup behind the velvet rope of 'not-hip' ponies the minotaur wasn't supposed to let in, half-curled around the side of the large, ugly-looking building. Every now and then, one of Vinyl's Nibelung would come out with a clipboard and choose a few lucky ponies from the line to let inside, but the minotaur's job was simply to stand here, ignore the lights shooting past him like lasers and the blaring music giving him a headache, punch anypony that tried to cross the sacred line, and let in only the boss and the 'cool' people who were always pretty easy to identify. Then he glanced up in surprise as Vinyl Scratch approached, dressed in some new fancy getup, and the crowd yelled and applauded excitedly as the minotaur hurried forwards to open the velvet ropes for the rising celebrity. Scratch grinned at him, and the minotaur frowned a bit even as he stepped politely aside: she wore what looked almost like a black cloak covering most of her body, and headphones were already pulled up over her ears, but... he supposed it was a cold night, as Vinyl strode inside and more cheers rose up from the nightclub. The music pulsing out of the open doors grew louder after a few minutes, and the minotaur sighed tiredly: on top of the noise getting worse, the music had changed to some kind of... acid techno or whatever the fancy music terms were. He didn't know music. He hated these ponies' ideas of music because most of it sounded like drunken minotaurs repairing their armor... just with less harmony and more loud, pointless banging and swearing. After another hour, however, the minotaur looked up dumbly to see Vinyl Scratch approaching, in frustrated conversation with one of her Nibelung bodyguards, and the minotaur stood dumbly for a moment before he hurried quickly down to open the rope when Vinyl glared at him, asking grouchily: "What's the problem, Ian?" "Ivan." the minotaur corrected, and when Vinyl flicked her head down to look moodily at him over her sunglasses, he shook his head and asked finally: "When did you leave, Miss Scratch? I did not see you go." "What are you talking about?" Vinyl Scratch frowned, leaning back as she looked quickly over at the Nibelung, who only shrugged in equal confusion. "I just got here, I've been out all day, scouting talent and trying to get in touch with Canterlot." "But... you are already here, then." The minotaur leaned back in surprise, glancing towards the open door. "I let you in one hour ago, I am thinking. You were-" "Oh come on! Who could be that good of an imposter to get past... dammit, come on, let's go take care of this." Vinyl Scratch groaned in disbelief, then stormed forwards before snapping over her shoulder at the minotaur, when he turned to follow: "No, you stay out here, and you do your damn job, the job I hired you for! Keep the losers out, and let the good ones in, simple! God, Ian, like I don't have enough to worry about without some ditz pretending to be me strutting around my damn club like... like she owns the place!" With that, Scratch strode quickly through the open doors and down the short hall leading to the open floor beyond, as the minotaur sighed and fumbled another cigarette out of his pocket, mumbling: "Is Ivan... idiot." Vinyl strode quickly through the club along the walkway that surrounded the open dance floor, glaring back and forth as spotlights flashed and strobe lights spun with the beat of the music... music, she now recognized, was much different from her usual tastes. At this, her eyes widened and she looked sharply up towards the DJ booth, and she ground her teeth loudly at the sight of the shape of a pony visible behind the green tinted glass, working her equipment, teasing her records, but using its own music. The Nibelung beside her started forwards, but Vinyl shook her head sharply, shouting over the beat of the music and the yells of nearby, dancing and excited ponies: "I'll go and deal with it myself! You go get security!" The Nibelung saluted sharply to show he understood, and Vinyl grunted before turning, storming past the enormous, black bar: it was cheap concrete, but painted and polished to look like onyx, and the hipsters and snobs and other breeds of cool, connected, and privileged ponies couldn't tell the difference. And now, someone was up there in her booth, impersonating her, trying to either pretend to be her or worse, sabotage her with this tawdry crap they called 'music?' Her customers were obsessed with the latest sights and sounds, after all... and this garbage... She strode quickly through a lounge area with armchairs and couches and big, comfy seats of faux leather, hurrying to an employees' only door. She frowned as her horn glowed, pulling it easily open, and she cursed under her breath: the magic lock had been forced open, meaning whoever up there was likely a unicorn... For a moment, she had a moment of indecision: after all, if they were powerful enough to snap the magic lock, that pointed to someone who could very possibly hurt her. On the other hoof, she was a budding music mogul, her network of contacts getting better every day, and whoever was up there was not only messing up all the sets she had preset into the DJ booth, they were messing with all of her equipment, acting like they owned the place, and generally perverting everything that made this club her crowing achievement and flagship to greater glory. Then she ground her teeth loudly together as a rapid percussion beat slammed through the speakers, and instead she ran forwards, charging down the stone hall beyond to a red security door that had also been pried open, and she cursed under her breath as she ran up the steel stairs beyond, following their curl around to the ajar security door leading into the booth, slamming into this with her shoulder to knock it wide, and she staggered through to snarl at... The unicorn that had taken over her booth grinned at her widely, and Vinyl Scratch stared in horror, her jaw working disbelievingly as she slowly reached up and pulled her sunglasses off. The invader looked just like her, except for the sharp teeth, the way its eyes glowed, how its mane was even more jagged and spiky; it was standing easily on its rear legs, manipulating the controls of the DJ booth with effortless fluidity, apparently having no trouble reading all her codes and abbreviations taped here and there as she reached one hoof up to cover the microphone, saying kindly to the real Vinyl Scratch. "Gimme just two seconds, gonna finish up this set and then we'll get on down to business." Vinyl Scratch shook her head disbelievingly, beginning to step backwards... but the lookalike unicorn only winked at her before the tall horn standing out of her forehead gleamed and slammed the security door shut, which clanked and locked loudly. Vinyl looked over her shoulder in horror, and then she glanced ahead as the doppelganger casually uncovered the mic to lean forwards, gazing down over the crowd below as she exclaimed loudly: "Hey, let's really get this place rockin' and the blood flowin'! Lock-down, lock-out, close everything up tight and we'll really get the sound blasting!" Cheers rang up from below, and without looking, the lookalike reached over and hammered several switches: immediately, massive, reflective glass tiles lowered from the ceiling here and there, spotlights shining onto these and through these to both refract and reflect the bright neon lights, mixing and spreading their glows as pony employees and Nibelung workers both hurried to the doors, shutting and locking them as raving ponies laughed and cheered excitedly at what they all likely thought was going to be some wild, semi-illegal stage-show. "Oh god, what are you doing?" Vinyl Scratch asked weakly, and the lookalike glared over at the mare as she reached up and covered the mic, before Scratch stared out at the dance floor, at the flashing lights and the neon lasers and the glowsticks, as the sound blasted through the air around them... "What do you want?" She almost screamed the question, and since the DJ booth was probably one of the quietest places in the club, her voice spilled through the microphone and over the loudspeakers, even with the sensitive mic covered... but the ponies below only thought it was part of the crash and howls of the jarring, violent music. Still, the doppelganger gritted her teeth, then she reached down and slammed a hoof into the button that controlled the mic, turning it off as she retorted: "What do I want? I want what I got right here... one big, mean trap for Luna Brynhild and Scrivener Blooms!" "Are... I... I don't understand." Vinyl said stupidly, looking surprised, and the lookalike grinned widely in her black cloak before she brushed a sleeve back, revealing some kind of metallic vambrace. Vinyl stared at this, watching as the lookalike unicorn tapped on the side of this, then her horn glowed, pulling a crystalline pin free that rose high into the air, then stabbed violently down into an 'input' jack on one of the central control terminals of the machine before the device sparked violently. Electricity surged along the sensitive machinery, and the lookalike pony winked over at Vinyl as the DJ leaned forwards with a yell of horror, her red eyes going wide before a hoof shot out and smashed into her throat. She felt it curl up beneath her neck, seizing painfully into her and yanking her into the air as she shivered and swallowed, and the doppelganger grinned over its own large sunglasses at her before it said kindly: "You will." Then it turned and threw Vinyl hard, and she shattered through the tinted glass protecting her booth with a shriek, falling amidst a broken rain of twinkling emerald to the ground some thirty feet below. She smashed down hard on a walkway around the tiled dance floor, and ponies screamed and yelled and panicked at the sight of the DJ's prone body... which other ponies only took as a cue to howl to the roof themselves, not even aware of the panic and the violence that was going on as the Clockwork Pony grinned widely and rose the vambrace covered hoof... and a moment later, electronic locks beeped and snapped closed on every shut exit and entrance, as the pony leaned forwards into the shattered window and shouted to the ponies staring in horror below, its voice echoing loudly through the speakers over the thrum of music: "Welcome, colts and fillies, to the greatest farewell party every thrown! I am your host, Breakbeat, and it is an honor to be here in Equestria, oh so far away from Decretum! Now, while we wait for our special guests, let's get this party started!" Breakbeat threw her head back and laughed, as below, ponies shouted and yelled and became aware far too late of the danger they had just been thrown into, and Vinyl Scratch only lay on the ground, bleeding slowly out of her mouth and staring disbelievingly as everything she had achieved was shattered as easily as her bones had been by the fall to the cold club floor. Category:Transcript Category:Story